A standard disk drive typically includes space for storing data available to the user and a fixed amount of space that is kept in reserve and protected for storing data unavailable to the user. After the manufacturer writes a servo pattern on the disk or disks in a disk drive, the manufacturer fixes the amount of space that is available to the user and the amount of space that is unavailable to the user. Servo writing the disks in the disk drive provides positional information for finding a particular track or group of tracks. The manufacturer then designates that a certain number of tracks will be set aside for a host protected area (HPA) and/or reserve area. Certain critical information to the tracks may be written in the reserve area, such as device firmware and the like. The critical information is typically required to operate the disk drive and is used by the operating system or hardware in the operation of the drive. Typically, the host protected area (HPA) was protected from outside tampering, to preserve the integrity of the data. In most instances, the HPA was even off limits to a computer system manufacturer that integrated the disk drive into a computer system. Thus, a computer system manufacturer could not modify or change the size of the HPA. No such command or set of commands were available to allow anyone beyond the manufacturer of the disk drive to change anything with respect to the HPA as set up by the manufacturer. By restricting such access, the HPA could not be easily copied by a system manufacturer.
For example, information storage media, such as hard disk drives and the like, are often duplicated in high quantities, such as during large scale manufacturing of information appliances and the like electronic devices. A hard disk drive duplicator machine, known as a duplicator, may be used in such large-scale processes. Often information storage media may include a host protected area (HPA), such as a reserve area, to provide various functions and features in additional to the other useable storage area in the remaining portions of the storage medium. Current hard disk duplicators do not recognize the reserve area or HPA so that when copying from a source disk drive that includes an HPA, the HPA is not copied onto the target disk drive or drives. Normally, such reserve areas are not intended to be user accessible, and as a result the reserve area or HPA may not be detected or indicated as present or accessible by most software.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a storage device duplication process suitable enabling host protected area duplication.